Disastrous House Price Crash Could Be Caused By Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme

One of the UK’s leading economists has warned of a potentially disastrous house price crash and points the finger at the Government home buying scheme for being the cause of another unsustainable property bubble.

Chief Economist at the Institute of […]

Top Economist Warns Of Fresh House Price Crash

Disastrous House Price Crash Could Be Caused ByGovernment’s Funding for Lending Scheme

One of the UK’s leading economists has warned of a potentially disastrous house price crash and points the finger at the Government home buying scheme for being the cause of another unsustainable property bubble.

Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors (IoD), Graeme Leach, said the introduction of the new Help-To-Buy scheme, under which UK taxpayers are underwriting thousands of new mortgages for property purchases, means the world must have gone mad.

Mr Leach said “The Funding for Lending scheme is very dangerous because it will drive up property prices at a time when it seems likely that (property) prices are already over-valued.”

The scheme is one of Chancellor George Osborne’s financial initiatives where the Government will underwrite mortgage loans allowing new and first time borrowers up to 20% of a property’s value as part of their deposit, effectively giving the Government a proportionate stake in the value of the mortgaged property.

UK residential property prices increased by between 0.3% and 0.6% in June depending on which house price index is viewed.

Figures released by Nationwide and Halifax have some disparity; however, both report that residential property prices are increasing.

Nationwide report that UK residential property is valued 1.9% higher than a year ago with the typical UK […]

UK Residential Property Prices Are Still Increasing

UK residential property prices increased by between 0.3% and 0.6% in June depending on which house price index is viewed.

Figures released by Nationwide and Halifax have some disparity; however, both report that residential property prices are increasing.

Nationwide report that UK residential property is valued 1.9% higher than a year ago with the typical UK home worth £168,941 (GBP).

Halifax report that UK residential property is 3.7% higher than in the same three months of 2012.

The data from Nationwide shows that the southern regions of England, especially London, continued to record stronger rates of property price growth and London also tops the table of property price growth in the second quarter index.

Overall the price of a typical residential property is up 1.4% compared with the same quarter in 2012.

10 of the 13 UK regions saw annual property price rises in the second quarter of 2013, however, Northern Ireland is still the worst performing region with property prices down 2.1% in the second quarter of the year.

London property prices increased by 5.2% compared with the second quarter of last year and the city has seen the greatest recovery in property prices of any region with prices now 5% above their 2007 peak at £318,214 (GBP).

UK residential property prices increased for the fourth consecutive month in May 2013, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index (HPI).

Data from the latest Halifax House Price Index has shown that UK residential property prices rose by 0.4% in May 2013.

This means that the value of […]

Residential Property Prices Continue To Rise

Residential Property Prices Up For Fourth Consecutive month

UK residential property prices increased for the fourth consecutive month in May 2013, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index (HPI).

Data from the latest Halifax House Price Index has shown that UK residential property prices rose by 0.4% in May 2013.

This means that the value of UK residential properties have now risen for four consecutive months, with prices in the three months to May 2013 coming in at 1.5% higher than in the preceding three-month period.

UK residential property prices have been rising modestly on this quarter-on-quarter measure since December 2012, with price increases between 1-2% in each of the past five months, while an increase in residential property sales has also been observed in the property market.

The Halifax House Price Index report as a whole indicated that UK residential property market conditions are better now than they were in 2012, with the ratio of residential property sales against the stock of unsold properties improving and demand for UK residential property purchases gradually gaining momentum.

The Halifax have revealed that the end of the stamp duty holiday and a rise in first-time buyers rushing to jump on the property ladder, helped push up UK residential property values by 2.2% in March.

The lender said property values averaged £163,803 in March 2012

The average residential property value was 2.2% higher than […]

The Halifax have revealed that the end of the stamp duty holiday and a rise in first-time buyers rushing to jump on the property ladder, helped push up UK residential property values by 2.2% in March.

The lender said property values averaged £163,803 in March 2012

The average residential property value was 2.2% higher than in February but still 0.1% lower on a quarter-by-quarter basis and 0.6% down on 2011 property values.

Halifax housing economist, Martin Ellis, said: “Efforts by first-time buyers to beat the expiry of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March have probably increased sales in recent months and may have helped to support prices.”

Research by the bank revealed that around 4 in 10 first-time buyers benefited from the stamp duty concession before the threshold for stamp duty fell from £250,000 to £125,000 at the end of March 2012.

The HMRC have confirmed the number of residential property sales in January and February was 14% higher than in the same period of 2011, its highest level since 2009.

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